Index.



L. L. DENNIGK.

INDEX.

APPLICATION FILED JUNI: 15, 1908.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

Patented Mar. 9, 1909.

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L. L. DLNNIGK.

Patented Mar. 9, 1909.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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LYMAN L. DENNICK, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

INDEX.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented March 9, 1909.

Application filed .Tune 15, 1908. Serial No. 438,690.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LYMAN L. DENNIGK, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Los Angeles, in the county of Los Angeles and State of California, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Indexes, of which the' following is a specification.

My invention relates to indexing and contemplates a plan or system which includes a chart or charts as well as one 4or more books or receptacles to be used therewith.

In places where many names are to be arranged or classified for future reference it is necessary that the plan or system employed be as well adapted to the entry or cataloguing of the names or subject matter by the indexer as to facilitate the finding of it by the searches. It is also necessary that means be provided for the overflow or for the occasional increase or multiplicity of some particular name over what is usually the case and for what it was thought ample provision had been made, when the index was prepared, as well as to provide for miscellaneous names, or those not adapted to be classified under any general heading. It is also desirable that means be provided by which the indexer, or one having` charge of the books or indexes, can give the desired information as to the book and page on which the desired name or subject matter can readily be found by any one even though they should not be versed in making searches.

One object therefore, of the invention, is to provide a book in which certain leaves or pages are grouped or set aside for containing all the names or subjects commencing with a certain letter or letters of the alphabet, as the surnames of individuals; and then providing a sub-index or chart, as a smaller leaf, for each set or group of said pages for indicating on which one or more of them a subdivision or smaller group of the names can be found, as those having Christian names commencing with the same initial or letter of the alphabet. Each group of leaves or pages is of the same size or number but the page numbers of all of them are not originally indicated on the particular chart or sub-index for that group, but are adapted to be placed thereon, if desired, when said extra leaves or pages have been used.

Another object is to provide means, as a larger leaf or chart, on which the divisions or subdivisions of all of the books of a series of books is printed and by means of which any particular name, if it appears at all, can be quickly found in any book of the series.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the invention and form a part of the specification.

Figure 1 is a plan view of an open book embodying one part of my invention. Figs. 2 and 3 are each a broken plan view of a portion of the same. Fig. 4 represents a series of index books belonging to and 'forming a part of my system of indexing. Fig. 5 is a perspective of a chart book, open to show the extra pages.

Referring more particularly to the drawings: 1 indicates a book which may be of any desired size and has its leaves divided into spaces 2 by the usual vertical and horizontal lines 3. The leaves are numbered or indicated consecutively in the usual manner and are preferably provided with suitable yheadings A, as j Grantor, Grantee, &c. when the index is to be used for deed records, and Mortgagor, Mortgagee &c., when it is to be used for a record of more gages. When the index is to be used for the names of persons or individuals, as in the present instance, the leaves are divided into groups, preferably of 16 pages each, and the groups are given indicators as letters of the alphabet, which are placed upon tabs 5, formed in any suitable manner, as by cutting away the margins of part of the leaves. As my system requires about forty of these groups or tabs it is impossible to place them in a single row so l make two rows of tabs with part of the letters in one row and the rest in the other row as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. To some of the groups l assign one letter, as the groups of the surnames of persons or individuals commencing with the letters A, F or N ,as indicated at 6, while to other letters are assigned three or more groups, as B H, M, and S, as indicated at 7, and other letters which are used less frequently, as l and Q, are placed upon tabs with other letters, as J and P respectively, as at 8, while yet other letters as U, V X and Y, are all placed upon a single tab as at 9. Each of the initial letters stands alone upon the tabs or combined with other initial letters, but niany of them are placed on two or more tabs, and followed by another letter to indicate the second letter kof. the name, as for instance, B is yused gon:

four tabs, once alone, and three times it is followed by the letters a, e respectively, thus causing these Oroups to read Ba, Be, Br, and- `LB, respectively, as indicated at 10. 1n this manner more space is given to thek names which occur more frequently and they are also divided into smaller groupings to facili-tate the: locating of the particular page upon which any one of the surnames commencing with this particular initial' can be more readily indexed or found, as the case may be. In addition to this .the greatest economy of space .in the number .of groups of leaves is secured and the size of the book is reduced to lthe minimum consistent with ease and facility of working the. index. Located -upon the first page of each group is a smaller unpaged leaf 11, upon which are placed letters indicating the initials of the Christian names and also corporations, as banks, firms, companies, etc. These initials are divided into groups as indicated at 12', and are placed in a vertical row or column, some of the letters standing alone and others standing in a row of two or more letters. These lines or groups yof letters are followed by a column ofFigs. 13 which indica-te the particular pages of that group on which the names to be indexed are to be placed or sought for, as the case may be. For instance, Fig. 1 of the drawings shows a book opened with the page 16 at the left hand and 17 at the right and the unpaged leaf 11 covering part of page 17. Referring to the leaf 11 it will be noticed that the letters A and B stand opposite the numberl 16, which indicates that all surnames commencing with the letters Ba (which appears on the tab of the group of leaves commencing with page 17) and having Christian names commencing with either of the initials A or B will be found on page 16, as Andrew Baker, Belle Bailey, &c. The letter C is followed by 17 which indicates that the surnames commencing with Ba and having Christian names commencing with the initial letter C will be found upon page 17, as Ch-arles Baker, &c. In the same manner each Christian name of that particular group of surnames can be properly paged or indicated by the index letters on the unpaged or sub-index leaf, but as some of the Christian names beginning with certain letters occur more fre.- quently than others it is necessary to provide more pages in each group for such particular names. For instance, as the names beginning with J as John James, &c., occur very frequently 1 have given that letter three pages 21, 22 and 23 while such a letter as C only needs one. On the other handV the Christian names beginning with and rf,

.each of said three groups of four letters is followed by one number, as 26, 27, and 28, respectively, which indicates that Christian names commencing with either letter of each group will be found upon the particularV page indicated by the number following that row or groupy of letters. 1n addition Ato these initial letters for Christian names space is provided on each sub-index .forthe insertion of special names ortitles .as Bank of Los Angeles, Bankers Trust Company.

As it is impossible tocornectly providel the exact amount of space required for lindexing the thousands of names that it is desi-red to place in a single volume and' ars-it woulditend to confusion and loss Volf time bot-h: in indexing and: in searching' to .place the surplus naines promiscuously upon a group of :leaves at the end of the volume, asis frequently done, each group. .of my index is provided with enough extra pages 1:41, in addition to the regular pages 1,5 for each group, y(these pages 14 'being marked extra in Fig. 5) to contain lthe surplus .or overflow of names from that group thereby greatly economizingspace and also rendering the index much more convenient by locating the surplus leaves 15 directly adjacent to the principal leaves and also by permitting the names commencing with the same initial letters to be kept separate and apart from those commencing with other initial letters. For instance, in the paging of my index, which l have shown and which I pre-fel, there are three .extra pages to each group except `the Erst group which. has only two pages upon which extra names belonging to that particular group may be placed. This varia.- tion of one page is caused by utilizing the last page of the preceding grou-p, which is the left hand page when the book is open, for the insertion of names belonging tov the follow-ing group, except the rst group which has no preceding group or page.

1n Fig.. 3 the column of figures 13 on the sub-index 11 runs from 1 to 13, which indicates that all of the surnames commencing with the letter A and having a Christian name commencing with any letter of the alphabet, as the letters of each sub-index runs from A to Z can be written upon said thirteen pages, while the surplus names from this. group can be written on pages 14 and 15, but as shown by Fig. 1 the last page of group A is 16, and it is utilized as the first page of the Ba group, whose subindex thus rims from 16 to 28 inclusive, which makes thirteen pages for that group. As the Be group would open between pages 31 and 32, or three ,numbers above 28, this gives three extra pages for the Christian names belonging to the Ba group instead of only two extra pages as above described for the rst or A group. In addition to these extra pages for each group I provide enough other extra leaves or pages indicated at 16 and marked 2d extra in Fig. 5 to afford room for all of the miscellaneous names that may occur throughout all of the different groups, one or more of the 2d extra set-s being provided at a suitable place or places in the book, following a series of the groups above referred to, to provide for overiiow from any part of the series of groups. For instance, in Fig. 1 the name Bank of Los Angeles on the subindex 11 is followed by the number 302, which indicates that that name will be found upon page 302 of the 2d extra group 16 of the index, said page 302 being the first page following the group on the last tab in the first row of tabs and its three extra pages. rEhe name Bankers Loan Coinpany is followed by number 304, which indicates that that name will 4be found indexed upon page 304. In this manner the entire list of miscellaneous names occurring throughout the various groups of surnames down to and including the letter L can be placed upon the group of extra leaves following said group L and indicated by the number that follows each of said miscellaneous ames, said numbers being written upon the index at the time of making the entry, whereas all of the regular names, or those having Christian names with some letter of the alphabet, are printed upon the sub-index. To facilitate `finding the particular page to which these surplus and miscellaneous names are carried I have provided at the bottom of each page of the index an appropriate notice, upon which the number of the extended page can be placed, as, for instance, See page 29 at' the bottom of page 16 in Fig. 1, which indicates that the extra surnames belonging to the original page and having Christian names beginning with A or B will be found on page 29.

As above described it will be seen that-any index book can be made comprehensive enough to receive the names that will probably be written therein, and at the same time the names will be so classified, first, by grouping the surnames commencing with certain initials, and then subdividing such groups or divisions according to the Christian names commencing with certain letters, as will enable the indexer to quickly and correctly locate the particular page upon which any given name must be written, thereby eliminating the possibility of error or mistake, and also guiding the searcher quickly and accurately to the place in which the name must be found if it occurs in the book.

It sometimes happens -that in making subdivisions of land that the same name will be used a great many times, especially as grantor, in which case one or more pages for the miscellaneous names or titles can be set aside for that name, which will facilitate the work of indexing and of searching.

Having described vmy invention I claim An index'book having its leaves numbered consecutively and divided into groups, each group having its first leaf provided with a tab, letters of the alphabet arranged on said tabs, a smaller leaf arranged at the inner edge of each of said first leaves and provided with all of the letters of the alphabet arranged in vertical rows, said last mentioned` letters corresponding with the initial'letters of the given or Christian name to be indexed, the arrangement of said letters on all of the smaller leaves being duplicates, numbers on each of said smaller leaves in horizontal alinement with said letters, said numbers being duplicates of certain of the page numbers of the group of leaves of which said first leaf forms a part, a plurality of extra leaves for each group of leaves containing the numbers of the remaining pages of said group, and a greater number of ext-ra leaves at the end of a plurality of groups.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand at Los Angeles, California, this 8th day of June, 1908.

LYMAN L. DENNICK.

In presence off- G. F. I-IAoKLnY, FRANK L. A. GRAHAM. 

